Goa International Film Festival of India 2014

Goa is gearing up for celebrations in the months of November and December. The 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will keep Goa in the swing of global cinema culture from November 20 to 30. Goa will celebrate the Sunburn Festival with a huge fanfare in the last week of December. IFFI Goa, a most illustrious film festival in the Asia Pacific region, has been the meeting point for luminaries in Indian Cinema and global cinema since 1952. It witnesses participation by filmmakers, both renowned and budding, from around the world. It celebrates creative excellence in different fields of cinema including filmmaking, screenplay writing, acting, cinematography, film editing, and choreography.

Indian Panorama 2014 has recently announced the list of finalists whose entries have been selected for screening in the Feature Films and the Non-Feature Films category at the 45th International Film Festival of India to be held in Goa, this year.

Led by Shri A.K. Bir, a renowned filmmaker, the Jury of 13 members for the ‘Feature Films’ category has finalized 26 films out of 181 entries from different states of India. the Jury for Feature Films incorporates K.N.T. Sastry, a director from Hyderabad; Archana, an actress from Chennai; Ganga Raju, a writer-director from Hyderabad, Oinam Gautam Singh, a director from Imphal; Vinod Ganatra, a director from Mumbai; A.S. Kanal, Cinematographer from Pune; Satarupa Sanyal, an actress-director from Kolkata, Sameer Hanchate, a director from Mumbai; Utpal Burpujari, a director from Delhi; M.C. Raja Narayana, a writer-film critic from Kerala, Gautaman Bhaskaran, a film critic from Chennai; and Advaita Kala, a write from Delhi.

The Jury for Feature Films in Indian Panorama has selected Elizabeth Ekadashi, a Marathi film by Paresh Mokashi, as the opening film from the list of 26 feature films to be shown at IFFI 2014.

The list of Indian feature films to be screened at 45th International Film Festival of India:

Headed by Shri Mike Pandey, an eminent filmmaker, the Jury of 7 members for the ‘Non-Feature Films’ category has finally listed 15 films from among 100 entries for IFFI 2014. The members of the ‘Non-Feature Films’ Jury are Oinam Doren, a director-producer from Imphal; Shila Datta, a director from Kolkata; Vivek Mohan, a director from Mumbai; Babu Kambrath, a producer-director from Kerala; R.Buvana, a producer-director from Chennai; and Abhiram Bhadkamkar, actor-writer from Mumbai.

The jury for Non-Feature Films in Indian Panorama has selected The Last Adieu,an English film by Shabnam Sukhdev, as the opening film from the list of 15 non-feature films to be shown at IFFI 2014.

The list of Indian non-feature films to be screened at 45th International Film Festival of India:

The Last Adieu by Shabnam Sukhdev in English

My Father Namgyal by Utpal Das in English

On and Off The Records by Pratik Biswas in English

Womb on Rent by Ishani K Dutta in English

Qissa-E-Parsi by Divya Cowasji, Shilpi Gulati in English & Hindi

Songs of the Blue Hills by Utpal Borpujari in English & Nagemese

Songs of the Bards of Bengal – The Bauls and Fakirs by Monalisa Dasgupta in English & Bengali

An American in Madras by Karan Bali in English, Hindi & Tamil

Bahadur The Accidental Brave by Aditya Seth in English & Nepalese

Candles in the Wind by Kavita Bahl & Nandan Saxena in English & Punjabi

A Dream Never Dies by Aneisha Sharma in Assamese

Bhoomiyil Chuvadurachu by Vipin Vijaya in Malayalam

The 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI 2014)is worth flying to Goa for catching offbeat films of different languages on different themes, unusual topics and enlightening stories, in November. Cheap flights to Goa on the USA-India airlines are available on IndianEagle.com.

Devotees Offer Garlands of Footwear to Goddess at This Indian Temple

You might have heard of devotees
offering chocolates, books and even alcoholto deities, but have you ever seen people
offering garlands of footwear to a goddess? If not, head to the 600-year-old Lakamma
temple in Karnataka’s Gulbarga during the 2-day annual footwear festival. Devotees
tie a garland of footwear to a tree outside the temple after their wishes are
fulfilled. While some believe that the footwear offering protects them from
evil, others believe it relives them of knee or leg pains. Celebrated on the 6th
day after Diwali, the unique festival sees the participation of people from
across the state. Interestingly, the temple houses no idol!

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Travel Beats is an Indian Community portal by IndianEagle, a leading travel organization for Indians in USA. Travel Beats celebrates the achievements of young Indians and publishes exclusive stories from the US and India. It also publishes the latest news about Indian Americans from different walks of life and lists upcoming Indian events in USA. It also shares updates from US-India airlines. To be precise, Travel Beats is a consistent effort by IndianEagle to bridge between Indians in America and India.